Thursday Highlights June 28, 2007

I woke up and went in to get little boy up and for the 3rd day in a row he was already awake. What cracks me up is that he will be sitting cross-legged in his crib reading a book. When I walk in, he just looks up as if to say, “what’s up mom…just sitting here getting a little reading in.” Oh my word. He is going to be such a nerd! I love it! I predict glasses by the first grade. When I took him to his new daycare this week they asked if there was a particular comfort item he liked to take to bed – like a blanket or a stuffed animal – I had to tell them that his bedtime comfort item is actually a book. So fun.

Then I had to race into the office. Important meeting? Deadline to meet? Big workload? No…I had to come in to the quarterly departmental birthday breakfast with our senior VP. Because nothing says happy birthday like coming into work 45 minutes early. In my bitterness I ate a bear claw. And drank 3 cups of coffee.

Then I started just madly hacking off items on my “to do” list. Just a crazy level of checking off tasks completed. Let me give you a sample. Item #4: Check and see if there are any Michigan wine tours for the fall. I thought that might be a fun way to celebrate our wedding anniversary in September, since we did some Sonoma Valley wine tasting on our honeymoon. Since our anniversary is in September it is critical that I start my research now. Critical, I tell you. I actually found out that on our anniversary there is some kind of “stomp the grapes” event in Leelanau county…might be worth checking out! See! I’m so productive!!

Next I signed up for an investor relations conference in September. Boy, I am really tackling those September to-do’s! It’s in Boston and should be a blast. Yay…number crunching in autumn…it doesn’t get any better than that.

Then I heard that our Bible Study reunion BBQ was cancelled. We had decided to take a hiatus from Bible studying in the summer. But, we thought it might be fun to get together once a month purely to eat. Because eating really knows no season. Our first one was to be Thursday night. And what a great night for a cook-out…gentle breeze, warm sunshine, low humidity. But, the host husband came down with a kidney stone and was busy puking all afternoon. Strangely he didn’t really feel up to hosting friends for a cook-out. He’s so selfish. We’ll have to tackle that issue when our Bible study reconvenes. I didn’t care for his self-centered attitude.

I picked up little boy at daycare – smiling and laughing and eating a toy (him, not me) – he makes me so proud. On the way home we stopped at the greenhouse for the super clearance sale. I got 2 big hanging plants for $1.50 each. I love it! For once I was a good mother and actually determined ahead of time that if I put these plants in the back seat Langston would eat them. Proactively I stuffed them into the front seat and hoped for the best.

I got home to utter bliss. Earlier this season I had an excuse…I had wrist surgery and couldn’t really use my hands very effectively. Then I was in rehab and really supposed to take it easy. Then everything was healed but I realized I was just a super lazy person. Um….I’m speaking of weeding the front flower beds. Which are quite big. And get very weedy. Especially when you don’t ever weed. So, back when I had the surgery excuse I hired Tina's employment training juvenile delinquents to come out every other week to weed. What a wonderful way to spend $25. Anyhow, I was feeling guilty now as I noticed how many weeds there were, how terrible it looked, how lazy I am…and determined that I actually had to take action and just get out there in the soil and work. I decided I would start this week-end. But, as I mentioned, utter bliss…I came home from work and noticed immediately that the kids had been out and the weeding completed! Oh, I’m so happy. It looks wonderful and I did nothing more than come home. No bending, no stretching, no back cramps…I love being lazy sometimes.

We later decided to cheer up our kidney-stone-friend’s wife by bringing over some of Jeff’s special recipe margaritas. Yum yum. I also brought her one of the hanging baskets. Turns out that Thursday was her actual 10 year wedding anniversary. Spending it helping her husband puke wasn’t a very festive way to celebrate. She very much appreciated the margaritas and hoped that their week-end plans wouldn’t be ruined by the kidney stone. She feared she was being selfish. Please. He’s the one with the problem! No, really, we all felt very sorry for him. He looked like death warmed over. I have heard that it’s about the worst pain you can experience. So, hopefully he is feeling much better now.

Home to watch the results show of So You Think You Can Dance (Jeff and I are both hopelessly addicted to this show….I don’t know what to say) and we enjoyed all over again the recaps of our favorite dances.

Is the day already over? When did I work out? When did I read something thought-provoking? When did I challenge myself to be a better person? Oh shoot. I guess there’s always this week-end. Now that I don’t have to weed I really have no excuse.

Thursday Highlights - June 14, 2007

Well, here’s what’s happening this Thursday.

First, I kind of woke up when my alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. (remember all those early morning work-outs I’m going to do??) I think it went off for about 5 minutes while in my sleep fog I tried to figure out what was making all that racket (in my defense, when we were in Chicago for 5 days the only alarm clock I needed was Langston, who did not adjust to central time and thus, woke me up at about 5:45 every morning. At home when he wakes up before 7 he just plays in his crib, jabbering and hollering away until I go in and get him at my leisure…but since we were in a very small hotel room and his crib was not only right next to the bed but also likely near the sleeping forms of our hotel neighbors, I actually had to get up and placate him…boo.)

Anyhow, obviously I did not get up at 6:00. Bwahahahahahahaha!

I dragged myself out of bed at around 7 and started to hunt around for all the stuff I needed that was still locked away in the suitcases. Hmmmm…maybe I should have actually unpacked when we got home last night…but I was so tired…the couch was so inviting…the house seemed so big and luxurious (after very small hotel room as mentioned above)…I just want to loll around. So I paid, as I rooted through a week’s worth of junk (Why did I bring all those press kits with me? I never used even one.) to dig to the bottom of the suitcase for some clean undies.

Shower felt very refreshing.

Cuddles with Langston are always fun. His slobbery kisses just kill me.

Left for work with – and I jest not – 4 bags of crap. It’s ridiculous. I can’t even bear to tell you (nor do you want to read) all the junk I crammed in and took to work with me. That’s it…no more…this stuff is just going to have to stay there!

It was very quiet when I got to work. Post-NeoCon slow down, I guess.

I was very excited to get a free 6-pack of diet coke. Leftovers from yesterday’s employee day trip. Woo hoo! The spoils of being in the right place at the right time, I guess :)

On my lunch hour I ran to Target to do some errands. My plans to spend about $20 on diapers and diaper genie refills very quickly turned into $100…including father’s day cards (one for me to my dad, one for Langston to Jeff, and one for Jeff from me) – am I the only one who starts reading cards like this and becomes a blubbering mess??...and a father’s day gift for my dad (he got a bunch of nifty “storage solutions” which I felt were perfect gifts given that I was really struggling to come up something that he would want and also want to store in their very small apartment…so what serendipity that I had this frustrating thought right by the storage area!) Although, I was regretting how casually I threw these items into the cart when one fell out on my toe…of course I was in sandals…and it hurt white-hot. When I could finally see straight I could see that it was bleeding a little bit but only enough to whine about, not anything serious at all. But I digress. I also bought a bunch of travel snacks for my trip to Chicago this week-end to celebrate my sister’s birthday with a group of girls. And I guess maybe that’s it. Boy, $100 sure does add up fast.

This afternoon I have munched on my Jimmy John’s sandwich while I worked and desperately tried to finish my boss's rough draft presentation for his speech at the annual shareholder’s meeting on the 21st. When we met to start working on his remarks he told me that he didn’t want to do anything like a typical powerpoint presentation. He didn’t want bulleted text on a slide…he wanted only powerful graphics…a storyboard…a dramatic, artful presentation. Yeah…that’s going to be easy. Anyhow, after sweating my way through “storyboarding” his remarks (what does that even mean??) I finally got a draft off to him, legal and a design vendor I’m having buff up what I’ve done.

And now I’m starting to think about heading home. Auntie will be back again tonight (in her purple sunglasses I hope!) to watch Langston this evening. Jeff and I both forgot that we had agreed to go out with his mom and dad, and David and Jill to dinner and the theater tonight…I remembered like today at noon! Yikes. Jeff called to tell me that not only had he remembered about the theater tonight he had also called Auntie to save the day at the last minute (in a very funny side note, he first called Jill...who informed him that she and Dave were also going tonight...tee hee).

Thursday Highlights - May 31, 2007

Hectic morning once again. Langston is simply precious in his drool covered yellow onesie. More drool? He can’t possibly be cutting more teeth…good grief he already has 8 and he’s only 9 months old!

The house is stuffy because it’s summer and we don’t have central air, so I work up a sweat trying to blow-dry my hair in the bathroom – still fighting the effects of the steam from 2 showers. I always forget what a pain that is.

Langston loves rolling around in the bathroom while I get ready – he’s currently mesmerized by the springy door stop thing on the bathroom door…it goes BOOOIIIINNNNGGG when he flicks it…which he loves. He repeats the activity over and over and over and over…giggling every time. It’s nice having a simple child.

I left the house carrying two overstuffed plastic bags of recyclables to put in the bins in the garage, a piece of toast wrapped in a paper towel, a bottle of water, a book (in case I need it over lunch), my purse, and my keys. Sticky, fumbling around juggling all this junk, nearly exhausted I collapse into the car and off for work.

Looked up some houses for sale on-line. Julie is thinking of getting a house so Jeff and I are in hot investigative mode. Found a great one. Actually quite jealous that it looks like a better house than mine, yet is cheaper than what I paid. I guess it’s just a buyer’s market. Keeping that in mind might keep me from hating her. Maybe.

Felt pudgy in my outfit.

Got my oil changed at Valvoline. I had gone nearly 3,000 miles over the recommended 3,000 limit. Was waited on by not one, but two Jeremiahs. How strange is that? Was inundated with orders…step on your brake, turn on your turn signals…right, now left, now right again…now put your foot on the brake and put your car in reverse…now turn on your right turn signal again…now start your engine….now turn it off…and the questions! Do you want a new air filter?...would you like regular or max oil?...would you like air in your tires? Good grief it was exhausting! Who knew there were so many decisions to be made just to get an oil change!

Had an impromptu meeting with my boss to discuss the fact that “events staff” at our NeoCon showroom this year will get to expense any outfits they need to buy in order to fit the dress code. That’s ridiculous, we agreed. That’s just wasteful and inappropriate, we wailed. But mostly we were just jealous. I’m sure I’ll feel pudgy in whatever I decide to wear to NeoCon this year.

Made a list of snack foods to buy tonight to reward people in my department who are helping Laura and I stuff 400 press room bags tomorrow for NeoCon. A definite excuse for a trip to Costco for kettle corn. Oh, it’s so addictive!

Thought about whether or not I should take a bike ride tonight after Langston goes to bed. Now that the days are getting longer I have fewer excuses for my laziness.

Realized that pudgy feeling might be directly related to my overall sedentary existence. Filled with resolve I raised my desk to standing height for increased mobility. I already feel more refreshed.

And with that…it’s almost time to go home!

Garage Sale Season is On!

Now that garage sale season is in full swing I feel that, as a devotee, I must make some comments.

I am always puzzled by particular items that seem to be a staple at nearly every sale. For instance, there’s always a card table covered with a variety of mugs. In my own collection I have a mug from the 2006 PRSA convention, a Dodger’s mug, 2 Cubs mugs, any number of mismatched Christmas mugs that were originally given to me filled with Hershey’s kisses or Reese’s miniatures or the like, several “souvenir” mugs from vacations (either my own or relatives’ who felt they needed to bring me back a memento), and mugs commemorating things like my high school graduation (Trojans, 1988), Jeff’s employee appreciation day in 2002, and the 2004 Steelcase shareholders’ meeting. So, what I absolutely do not need to do is spend even 25 cents on strangers’ mugs celebrating their various conventions, favorite sports’ teams, Christmas gifts they received with candy inside, graduations (high school, college or grad school…not their children’s either), vacations, etc. Does anyone? Is there anyone in the entire greater Grand Rapids area who feels what they are really short on is random, mismatched mugs? And no, Goodwill doesn’t want them either because even the poorest, neediest person probably already has more than enough mugs. There should be some kind of melting pot where we could all take our old mugs to be melted down and re-made to commemorate future events requiring a cheap give-away.

Don’t ever be lulled into purchasing any “as seen on TV” exercise equipment at full price. I guarantee that every Saturday you will come across dozens of people happy to unload the gazelle, thigh-master, ab-roller, ab-lounge, door gym, or stamina body dome they made three easy payments to obtain and then used once.

Are you grossed out by your own torn, sweat-stained, misshapen work-out tees? Fear not! You can replace them with the dozens you will find at every garage sale featuring the rips, sweat and stretch-marks of strangers! And you can usually get each one for only .25-$1 (hey, you have to pay a premium for torn, sweaty, stretched-out “designer” tees).

Boy, what I would give to have access to the wit, wisdom, advice, chicken soup, and blessings that were compiled into books I threw out that were specifically aimed at graduates, mothers-to-be, fathers-to-be, golfers, grandmothers, new parents, home-schooling parents, parents of scholar athletes, parents of strong-willed children, parents of lazy children, parents of wild children, parents of children you want to grow “God’s Way”, single parents, only children, children of alcoholics, co-dependent spouses, spouses with no “love language”, etc. But wait…one stroll down a street participating in a neighborhood garage sale and you will amply restock your supply. I can’t believe people are getting rid of these! Don’t they still have a need for wit, wisdom, advice, blessings and chicken soup? I know I still do.

If I could were the Garage Sale Czar for the city of Grand Rapids, I would:

1-demand respect. Come on….do you really think that I, your customer, am so low and desperate that I want to paw through your unsorted piles of crap? At least show me the courtesy of putting up a few tables, sorting your items, pricing them…making some effort at merchandising. If you just dump your stuff on a table for me to dig through, I will feel your disdain and move on. I mean, I do have my standards.
2-forbid garbage. Again, do you really think that ANYONE wants your a) half-filled and cracked snow globe, b) old tee shirts (see notes above), c) used underwear (I can’t bear to say more…even if they were from Victoria’s Secret), d) puzzles missing pieces, e) rusty spoons, f) teal stiletto pumps from 1985, g) crock pot missing the crock, h) used make-up, or i) half-filled bottle of lotion? Sadly, I could have gone on and on. Gross.
3-insist pets be confined in some way. Do you really expect me to concentrate on making purchases when your mutt is sniffing my rear? That’s an immediate walk-away.
4-forbid overcharging. Your paperbacks are not worth $5 each just because they were “only read once.” Your child’s old boots are not worth $10 just because they were originally bought at Macy’s. No one in their right mind is going to pay $20 for a used fondue set. You’re just embarrassing yourself and wasting my time.

All that said…I can feel it in the air…garage sale season is back on…and the deals, deals, deals, deals, deals await!!

My best deal so far is 3 books I bought last week. My boss Deb and I have been desperately looking for copies of the book that Steelcase produced in celebration of its 75th anniversary. We were down to our last copy and couldn’t find any more anywhere. It seemed a little scary to be the corporate communications department and down to our last book. Can you believe I came across 3 of these books, still in their wraps and boxes, for $3? I love it. Where else but at a garage sale?

Things That Are Currently On My Desk…and What They Say About Me

I am the type of person who longs for a pristine and clutter-free work surface. I imagine that in my ideal work space my utterly clean desk would just sport a single stalk of bamboo in a clear glass cylinder…or maybe one perfect picture of Langston in a teak frame, his eyes shining with love for the photographer (me).

What I do know is that it would not display the current assortment of oddities:

1- Four neatly stacked random cds. Two of which are photo cds of Steelcase executives from January photo shoots. These pictures need to be loaded onto our company shared site but I don’t know who our vendor for this is anymore, don’t have the software needed to view them, and my unanswered and unasked questions have led me to just postpone any action. I don’t even know what the other two cds are.
2- A certificate from Omaha Steaks inviting me to buy their “limited time offer” Celebration Pack of assorted steaks and burgers. If I act before the end of the month I also get a set of steak knives and a cutting board….plus 8 additional burger patties!!! This offer does seem to be too good to resist. So, it sits here…just waiting to be sent in….and waiting. Maybe I’ve procrastinated so long because it just didn’t seem like spring here. I couldn’t imagine firing up the grill for anything other than a heat source in the frigid weather. But now I just know I’ll act on the offer before the end of the week. I know it. Bring on the meat!!
3- A blue paperclip holder guy. This was a stocking stuffer from Christmas. I thought it would be really helpful since sometimes I find myself searching for paperclips. But for some reason he has not entered my conscious mind because I continue to search high and low for paperclips…only afterwards do I remember, oh yeah, I’ve got that blue thing right here. If I never use the paperclips he endlessly presents does he have a purpose? Without a purpose does he have a function? When no one’s around does he stop grinning?
4- An index card box with alphabetical dividers. What a clever way to keep business cards and important numbers at my finger tip! However, I have neither added to this collection nor retrieved information from it in years. Yes, years. How do I know this? Well, one boring afternoon during spring break I actually started looking through it and found cards identifying my healthcare providers when I lived in Lansing (7 years ago), reporters for publications that have since gone out of business, my blood donor card from when I worked at American Red Cross, a recipe for a bourbon chicken casserole I never made (and doesn’t really even look all that tasty), a business card for a woman who makes Raggedy Ann dolls (for a gift I gave, must have been 10 years ago, to someone whose name I now can’t even remember – let alone her kid).
5- A desk fan. Working here in the hermetically sealed office work the air flow can sometimes bring me down! Cold in the morning…hot in the afternoon…a girl’s gotta have a little air movement…I don’t care what facilities says…they’re not the one expected to work in this oven! OK…along with the stalk of bamboo and the devastatingly cute picture of Langston I’d really have to keep the fan too…forget sophistication – who am I kidding?

So, what does all this say about me? What kind of window into my soul have I just flung open?? I guess the big revelation is that I’m lazy. Pretty much all of this clutter could go if I just quit procrastinating, opened my eyes and possibly the trash can, and just let it go. And maybe I’ll just do that…yeah…maybe I’ll take care of it today…you just watch me! Except, of course, for the fan.

The Holquist Fam Best Eats in GR List!

Best Bagels: Bagel Beanery (Jeanine); Panera (Jeff)

A Nice Place to Take the Folks: The Gathering Place (Jeanine); Bentham’s (Jeff)

Best Breakfast: Real Food Café (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies: Wealthy St. Bakery (Jeanine); just make ‘em yourself (Jeff)

Best Deli Sandwiches: Cherry Street Deli (Jeanine); Schnitz Deli (Jeff)

Best Desserts: Barnes & Noble (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

Best Lunch: Red Geranium (Jeanine) ;

Best Place to Eat Out with Friends: Bonefish Grill (Jeanine) ; Blue Water Grill (Jeff)

Best Place to Go if You Have to Pick Up a Dessert (tie): Forest Hills Foods and Paris Cafe

(Jeanine); Arnie’s

Best Restaurant Bread Basket: Charley's Crab (Jeanine); Pietro’s (Jeff)

Best Restaurant Location: The Blue Water Grill (Jeanine); Rose’s (Jeff)

Best Restaurant Splurge (tie): The Heritage at GRCC and The Melting Pot (Jeanine); Charley’s Crab (Jeff)

Best Restaurant to Just Sit and Talk: Bob Evans’ (Jeanine); No answer from Jeff.

Best Restaurant to Take the Kids: Red Robin (Jeanine); Kabookie’s (Jeff)

Best Ribs: Z's (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

Best Salad: Rose's (Jeanine); Panera (Jeff) – although he says a salad is just a salad to him.

Best Soft Serve Ice Cream: Cone City (Jeanine); don’t eat soft serve (Jeff) – yes he does…he eats at Cone City whenever I suggest it.

You Can Always Get in on a Saturday Night: Sundance Grill (Jeanine); No answer from Jeff.

Most Overpriced for What You Get (tie): Zoup and Olga’s (Jeanine); San Chez and Noodles (Jeff)

Most Overrated: The BOB (Jeanine); Bar Louie (Jeff)

Best Pizza: Big Bob’s (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

Best Chinese: Seoul Garden (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

How Does it Stay in Business: Carlos O’Kelly’s (Jeanine) ; El Arriero (Jeff)

Best Burger: Rose’s (Jeanine); Cottage Bar (Jeff)

I’m So Sorry it Closed: Donato’s Pizza (Jeanine); Three Crowns Bistro (Jeff)

Best Local Joint: Real Food Café (Jeanine); Yesterdog (Jeff)

Oh, I WILL get it done!

Well, I am back after an exhausting 3 weeks of travel. I was in Dallas, Texas; New York twice; Marco Island, Florida. Only the Florida trip was for fun. Hopefully I am back now until Chicago in June – but you never know.

As winter is starting to slowly turn toward spring I am getting the itch to be more personally productive. I have begun some aggressive list making. Achievement seems just within reach.

So, I share with you some of my personal “to do” list. And then provide what I am quite sure will keep me from completion.

1. At a garage sale TWO YEARS AGO (with the newest season’s garage sale season coming soon) I bought an old fashioned diaper changing table. Does it mean anything to you to realize that I bought this thing the summer BEFORE I got married and now am married and have a child and still haven’t completed this project? I am shamed by my own procrastination. Anyway…I had seen this great project in a do-it-yourself magazine where you convert a changing table into a drink cart. It was charming. It seemed serendipitous when weeks later I saw a changing table just like the one in the article for only $5. It still sits in the basement today waiting to be transformed.

2. When Jeff and I were working on selling his house (again, this will now be two summers ago) a neighbor of his was hosting a garage sale (I’m sensing a trend) and had an old bike for sale. It was one of those kind of old-fashioned models with the basket and the 3 speeds…sure, it was kind of broken down…but it was only $2 and I felt sure that with a little TLC it could just be charming! I could just see myself tooling around, kind of Martha’s Vineyard-esque with my straw hat, Bermuda shorts and pastel bike (with a bouquet of freshly picked daisies in the basket). This is much like the vision I had of myself mowing my lawn with an eco-friendly reel mower in a white dress and hat (another trend) before setting up the croquet set for an impromptu match (Jeff quickly vetoed this purchase…he said that it would more likely be him sweating through a Cubs t-shirt during the first 10 minutes of a 3 hour job in the boiling hot sun slaving behind an instrument of torture …something he wanted no part of). Anyhow…the bike is still limply propped up in the garage unrestored.

3. I don’t know why I never noticed it before, but whoever painted our ceilings before we moved in did a crappy job. I don’t even know if there’s one coat of paint on those things. It would be really nice to re-white those nasty ceilings. I also have to say that I made a number of my own mistakes painting the walls when I moved in…so, this would give me the chance to right those wrongs too. I have already bought some instant stripper to fix the paint boo-boos on the trim (OK, the stripper has only sat on the counter for 3 weeks…but I’m REALLY going to do this).

4. When I moved into the house the basement was beautiful. The floor had been freshly painted grey…it was awesome. It’s pristine condition moved me to love. Now it’s dirty, dusty, and fairly gross. It needs a good sweep and some serious mopping. I’m ashamed at how I’ve let it deteriorate.

5. I won’t even mention all the boxes in the crawl space I was blessed with when Jeff moved in. Suffice it to say that these boxes contain “treasures” like old yellow pages books, mugs full of old pens, LL Bean catalogs, etc. Shhhh…it’s a secret….don’t tell Jeff….but a purge is forthcoming.

6. The garage is a disgrace.

7. I’ve always wanted a party patio. I’ve got some kind of cool items now…I just have to integrate it into some kind of coherent, elegant yet playful, outdoor hangout.

I’m just so happy looking at that list! Life would be so wonderful if I got that stuff done. I can’t even tell you.

But, here is what will inevitably keep me from this bliss:

1. Hey, it’s the cast of Lost on Oprah!

2. Oooh…the Sephora catalog arrived…

3. All of a sudden I’m compelled to rearrange all the closets.

4. Anyone feel like ice cream?

5. Look at my toes…boy do I need some polish!

6. Is that a new episode of To Catch a Predator???

7. Oh, I’m just so drowsy…a quick nap won’t hurt anything…

8. I wonder if there’s anything new on You Tube?

9. I’m almost to the end of the book…surely it will only take me a few minutes to finish (an hour later I’m still reading)

10. OK Langston…mommy will lay on the floor and tickle your tummy (I don’t really think this counts)